Play with different combinations of these words and you'll be forming mental pictures of metacognition.
Thinking about knowing ...
Learning about thinking ...
Control of learning ...
Knowing about knowing ...
Thinking about thinking ...
While brief definitions like these abound and are helpful for a rudimentary understanding of metacognition, further exploration reveals two consistent themes appearing in literature on metacognition: knowledge and control.
These two aspects of metacognition are described in Dimensions of Thinking by Marzano et al. (1988). The authors expound on the view of Paris and Winograd (as cited in Marzano et al., 1988) which states that metacognition involves:
Knowledge and Control of Self
Successful students are aware of, monitor, and control their learning. Central to this knowledge of self and self-regulation are commitment, attitudes, and attention.
Commitment
Metacognition is at work in students who choose to commit themselves to tasks. In the words of Paris and Cross (1983) they align "skill with will" (Marzano et al., 1988, p. 10).
Attitudes
Attitudes play an important role in metacognitive self-control. Successful students attribute their success to their own efforts.
Attention
Conscious control of attention helps students understand that the level of attention required for a task varies with the task and that they can adjust the focus of their attention accordingly. This sense of personal control is related to the efficient performance of tasks.
Knowledge and Control of Process
Marzano et al. (1988) describe two elements of knowledge and control of process that are stressed by Paris, Lipson, and Wixson (1983): types of knowledge important in metacognition and executive control of behaviour.
Types of Knowledge
Knowledge may be declarative, procedural, or conditional. Declarative information is factual and involves knowing the concepts of a given task. Procedural knowledge refers to information about how to apply metacognitive strategies. Conditional knowledge is an awareness of when and why one strategy may be superior to another or more appropriate to use. Teachers who identify and teach these components of tasks are helping students to exert metacognitive control over a process.
Executive Control of Behaviour
Evaluation, planning, and regulation help students gain executive
control of behaviour. These processes are the primary focus of many
definitions of metacognition. Evaluation refers to students' ongoing
assessments of their knowledge or understanding, resources, tasks,
and goals. Planning involves the purposeful selection of strategies
for specific tasks and is dependent on declarative and conditional
knowledge. Regulation includes the monitoring and revision of
progress toward goals. Evaluation, planning, and regulating should
take place at before, during, and after stages of tasks.
Edward de Bono (Maclure and Davies, 1991, p.
xii)
|
|
Pick a different paper